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Parenting Puzzles: How Do You Make More Time For Fun?

When you think about the major joys of parenting and living your life as it is today, chances are there’s a few things that make the list. While yours may vary slightly, with most parents, you’ll find the same kind of themes repeating themselves:

The joy of teaching your child something that they had no concept of before. You’re imparting knowledge; it’s not only useful (most of us still remember some of the lessons our parents taught us!) but it’s a huge bonding experience.

Enjoying playing with our children, running around, seeing the world through their eyes.

Helping them overcome issues as and when they experience them, strengthening our bond with them while we help them to become more empathetic to the world around them.

The little things, the moments that you can’t capture exactly as photographs but which your life is full of – holding hands, exchanging smiles, laughing together.

It’s probably a fair bet than when asked about the things you like about your life that you’re not going to come up with a list that looks anything like this:

Paying bills

Cleaning the house

Worrying about money

Working late and having to say goodnight to your kids by phone

Most of us spend a lot of time doing the things on the second list – though it’s undoubtedly true we would much rather be doing the things on the first! It’s enough to make you wonder if there is some kind of trick to time management that can give you more time working through list one than worrying about list two – and chances are, there are some changes you can make.

The internet has offered us more opportunities for time management than – arguably – anything else in human history. Connectivity means you no longer have to traipse around the grocery store if you don’t want to; smart thermometers and the like such as those featured on the Smart Future mean you don’t have to worry about a bill coming in unexpectedly. With a little setting up, you can have more control over your life than ever before – so set aside a weekday to get everything ticking over, then it can be automated, giving you more time for excitement.

2) Schedule Fun

It might sound like the most boring idea on the planet, but yes, scheduled fun can actually be massively beneficial. How often do you make time in a planner just to do anything you want? Even fun outings with kids, or playdates, will tend to have a specific purpose in mind.

Imagination is the great gift of childhood, so try and schedule some time where you turn the decision over to your child and ask what they want to do. Then go along with it – you might be surprised how much better it makes you feel to go with their plans!

3) Stop Doing Unnecessary Things

The world is not going to fall apart if you stop ironing casual clothes, for example. There’s a whole host of things we do out of habit rather than necessity, so cutting these out can give you more time into your day – all of which can be spent working through list one!